Scientists: Neanderthals and humans made love in addition to war

The story of early humans and their interactions with Neanderthals has become much clearer, thanks to the work of a large team of scientists that have sequenced about 60 percent of the Neanderthal genome (see articles in Science).

The researchers, led by Swedish evolutionary anthropologist Svante Pääbo, have made several findings of note after five years of sequencing and studying the Neanderthals’ DNA, and then comparing it with the newly sequenced DNA of five humans from around the world:

Max Planck Institute-EVA

Svante Pääbo with a reconstructed skull.

• Humans very likely interbred with Neanderthals, probably in the Middle East around 60,000 years ago, where humans would have met Neanderthals as they emerged from Africa.

• Approximately 1 to 4 percent of the modern human genome seems to come from Neanderthals.

• The Neanderthal genome was more similar to present-day humans in Papua New Guinea, China and France than two Africans, supporting the notion that the interbreeding occurred before humans spread into Europe and Asia.

• Because of the similarities between the human and Neanderthal genome, by studying the few differences scientists have more clues than ever about the specific regions of DNA that make us human.

These are truly remarkable papers that Science has published as they provide a trove of information about an exceptionally close ancestor to humans with whom we had deep interactions, evidently including sex as well as combat.

What an interesting world we would live in today had Neanderthals not gone extinct. Who knows, they may well return if we decide its ethical to resurrect them as a species.

66 Responses

“…if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people – their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties..if that is what they mean by a “liberal” then I am proud to be a liberal.”

The idea that Humans and Neanderthals interbred might not seem all that appalling if you look at it from the perspective of different “breeds” of the same species. In much the same way a terrier might interbreed with a poodle. That’s a weak comparison, I suppose, but you get my point. Now, of course we consider Humans and Neanderthals, scientifically speaking, to be of separate species’ (same Genus), but the question I would like to pose is: do we see other examples of this in nature, where different, yet similar, species have interbred?

During the course of writing this post I found the answer to my own question. The answer is Yes – Dogs and Coyotes are a great example different species (C. l. familiaris & C. latrans) interbreeding to produce offspring. Maybe since we’ve been the only show in town for the past few tens of thousands of years or so it seems like a horribly foreign and repulsive concept.

The idea that Humans and Neanderthals interbred might not seem all that appalling if you look at it from the perspective of different “breeds” of the same species.Sexual selection is known to create new species. Then again humans are not always selective. There was a sad story of a shaved orangutan that was rescued from an Asian brothel.In 1999 a skeleton found in Portugal appeared to be a Neanderthal-Human hybrid.

I see a lot of comments saying this finding explains Republicans or Tea party people.

Makes perfect sense! Neanderthals had larger brains and were more intelligent, they just died out because they needed too many calories. So a portion of that greater intelligence lives on in the more intelligent groups in modern society: Republicans and Tea Party members.

It’s also refreshing, many of the people making these comments about Republicans seem to be Democrats! I applaud their honesty, they recognize Republicans are smarter, and they’re willing to admit it. These liberal commentators deserve some credit (Linked below is an example)